File 13
by Inspirationally Red
Summary: B. Beyond Birthday. Rue Ryuzaki. Nobody knows the man behind the murders - the man who tried ending his life in a burst of flames, and became the man who challenged L. A murderer who worshipped the greatest detective in the world. Now, that life has been uncovered, and all the facts about his life laid bare.


File 13

An Introduction

WARNING: THIS FIC CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE DEATH NOTE MANGA & ANIME, L: CHANGE THE WORLD (FILM AND NOVEL), HOW TO READ: 13, DEATH NOTE: ANOTHER NOTE:THE LOS ANGELES BB MURDER CASES, AND THE THREE ONESHOTS (L:THE WAMMY'S HOUSE/ONE DAY AND THE ONESHOT FEATURING AN OLDER NEAR).

Hello everyone.

I have decided to begin writing this fic basically to shed light on the mystery that are the two central characters of Death Note and its sequel, Another Note – L and B, or L Lawliet and Beyond Birthday. The reason I've started writing this fic is that I'm getting tired of searching for information relating to B in the Death Note fandom, only to discover thousands of exclamations like "OMG, B's such a psycho, he murders his victims, he's a cannibal, he bathes in blood" etc. etc. etc. Please. Not only are comments like that not realistic in the slightest, the tone of the Death Note series itself doesn't make feats like that seem in character. Remember, Death Note was NOT originally written as a display of a general bloodbath/insanity. So I've decided to do my own research into L and B, not to mention the whole Wammy's House system, L's past, etc. The character I will be focusing on first in this chapter is B, also known as Rue Ryuzaki, BB, and Beyond Birthday.

Alright, so, let's start with the basics – what is clearly stated, or we can guess, from the novel (_Death Note: Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases_).

B calls himself Beyond Birthday, but that is not his real name (as stated in the book. The same can be said for the alias he used, that L took to use in the Kira case: Rue Ryuzaki).

B is a fan of the manga Akazukin Chacha (as stated in the book).

B was born with the shinigami vision, which inspired his alias Beyond Birthday (as stated in the book, although I still don't know how a human possessing shinigami vision could be possible – shinigami aren't allowed to mate with humans, which means B can't be part shinigami)

B is most likely a mathematical genius (as implied by the Los Angeles BB Murder case's complexity, plus B would have to be quite skilled with mathematics to be able to convert shinigami time to human time at a glance).

B is a fast runner (as implied in the scene in the novel where Naomi Misora was assaulted).

B probably has a case of OCD aka obsessive-compulsive disorder (as implied in the novel where it describes him as being meticulous and finicky; him unscrewing the light bulbs to scrub them clean of fingerprints only supports this).

B has natural black hair (as stated in the book)

B gets up early at 6:00am (as stated in the book)

B is thin and fairly tall (as stated in the book)

B knows how to drive, and is presumably old enough to do so (as stated in the book)

B has a wide knowledge of various medicines and drugs (as implied in the novel, where he drugs his victims before killing them).

B ran away from Wammy's House in May, 2002 (as stated in the book).

B has no eye for judging people i.e. he cannot look at a person and tell their potential (as stated by Mello at the end of the novel)

B cracks his neck as a habit (as stated several times in the book).

B's mother died in a train crash, and his father got mugged and killed (as stated in the book).

B was raised in Wammy's House, the school for gifted potential successors of L in Winchester, England (as stated in the book)

B's codename was Backup when he was in Wammy's House (as stated in the book. Just like Nate River's was Near, Mihael Keehl's was Mello, and Mail Jeevas's was Matt.)

L visited B in the prison hospital on September 1st, when the LABB Murder case concluded (as stated in the novel)

This is just a small example of how much can be gleaned from Another Note – to fully find out anything about B from Another Note, you have to read between the lines a lot :) Which leads us to the next thing: what we can guess or what is implied in the novel:

B's favourite colour is red (for the overdone reason that it is the colour of blood, but also because it is the only colour he can actually SEE with his shinigami eyes, if we use the portrayal of shinigami vision in the anime as a guide. Oh, and also, red is also the colour of strawberry jam, plus the main character in Akazukin Chacha has a red dress)

B has golden-brown eyes (on the inside cover of Another Note where B and Naomi Misora are depicted, three eyeballs are drawn between them. An eyeball that is the same colour as Naomi's is staring sideways at B, while a pair of golden-brown ones are doing likewise to Misora (symbolism for the win! The symbolism in this is that, while they are working together, they are also wary and watching each other's every move XD))

B was born in West LA (why else would he choose to go to LA to commit the crime? Between when he ran away in May and the case's commencement in July, he only had one month to get to America, which meant he didn't have much time to familiarize himself with the area. This implies he already had familiarized himself with the area (say, in his childhood). Plus, B borrowed a house there under the name of a dormant company (as stated in the novel). You have to have some sort of connection to a company to borrow anything under its name – my theory is that one of his parents owned, or was at least part of, that company)

B's father was an alcoholic American and his mother was a domineering Japanese (most serial killers are abandoned by alcoholic fathers and raised by domineering mothers. B would have to have an American parent and a Japanese one – as he speaks Japanese like a native, knows kanji, reads manga, and knows about the significance of Wara Ningyo. As alcoholism is something I just cannot associate with the Japanese (no offence to the wonderful Japanese who brought us this awesome manga :) :) :)), the most likely candidate would be his father, who would be American. It fits too – getting mugged and killed (as his father did) in a back alley while staggering home drunk from the pub seems a more likely death for an alcoholic than getting run over by a train, doesn't it? The fact that Beyond knows about so many Japanese things likely points out that his mother was alive for longer than his father, and thus her Japanese heritage would have more of a chance of rubbing off on him)

B is cold and detached, doesn't laugh easily, and gets excited only at the thought of L (as he would be able to see when people will die, the most likely train of thought he has is 'People are going to die someday anyway, so why bother getting close to them?'. Therefore, he would have to purposely remain very aloof and detached to avoid people's affections, since he doesn't want to become attached to them and then get devastated when they die. Thus, he doesn't laugh easily, and feels he has to practice it. However, when he was disguising himself as L in the novel, he was in hysterics – that shows to me that L is the only person who can prompt a reaction out of him)

B loves L (not once in the book Another Note did it ever mention B hating L. It was implied, but that could also be read as *cough* sexual dominance *cough cough*: "B is top, L is bottom", anybody? Even in How To Read 13, it stated that B revered L. Also, I highly doubt someone would attempt to impersonate someone they hated. Mello actually did state in the novel that B had a more personal obsession with L than him or Near ever had)

The next point won't make a lot of sense if somebody hasn't seen the flashback where Near is listening to L via computer with the other Wammy's children in Death Note: Relight 2: L's Successors (see this link: spots/death-note/images/8950852/title/real-live-bb-proof-screencap?ir=true.) To those of you who don't think the boy standing up front near the monitor wearing the white shirt and jeans in the flashback is B, I have an argument. We know Death Note places emphasis on symbolism: Light's dramatic writing, changing lighting, church bell sounds appearing out of nowhere, people's eyes glowing etc. If those can happen, why can't B appear where many people say it is impossible for him to do so? Symbolism is an important theme recurring throughout Death Note, people. The animators of the Death Note anime could not have replaced Matt by accident, as the boy standing in Matt's place is too drastically different to have just been a simple animation mistake. Also, Matt is a fairly insignificant character in Death Note, only appearing for a short number of panels (don't kill me please, fangirls) – a most likely course of action would be to replace an insignificant character with one that has considerably more depth, because… pfft, I don't know, fanservice, maybe? XD

Oh, also, to clear up any issues people might still have about the fact that at the start of the Relight flashback the boy was blonde – L had been talking to the children long enough for another person (the black haired boy I think is B) to enter the room and come to the front. It is clearly shown that towards the flashback's end, the blonde boy is sitting down at the front.

Also, another thing: the manga Death Note was originally published in 2003. The novel Another Note: The LABB Murder case by NisioIsin was published in 2006. The Death Note anime was aired, created, announced or whatever in 2007. The gaps between publications means that whoever directed and/or had a hand in designing the anime would have had the opportunity to read and include subtle hints about the Los Angeles BB Murder cases in the anime. I am referring to the part where L screamed and fell out of his chair after hearing the word 'eyes' from Misa's video, the flashback in Relight 2, and countless others.)

B learnt of L's appearance from A (It is clearly stated in the novel that B had not met L, as he did not know his name or face; Mello supports this, saying that everybody in Wammy's House didn't know anything more about L than anyone else. In the Wammy House flashback in Relight 2, the blonde boy I think is the most likely candidate for A, who is sitting next to B, is wearing a white shirt and blue jeans, and he is also sitting like L; earlier, when standing, he had an identical slouch. This proves A had met L at one point and would be likely, since A was L's successor)

B is right-handed (we all know L normally bites his right thumbnail because he's right-handed – in short, you bite the thumbnail of your dominant hand (I know I bite the thumbnail of my left hand, because I'm left-handed). Where B is depicted on the illustration in the inside cover of Another Note, it shows him biting the thumbnail of his right hand. Even if this is entirely incorrect and the illustration doesn't show him at all, the probability of him being right handed is around 85%, since right handers are so common)

B is **NOT** insane (the Los Angeles BB Murder case's complexity speaks for itself. I highly doubt that the case would be so meticulously planned and acted out if the person planning it was insane. If he _was _insane, the plan would not nearly be so smooth – there would have been erratic changes of plan, back-tracking, loose ends etc. In the USA, if insanity is accepted as a cause of the crime, the culprit is sentenced to a mental hospital. The fact that Beyond was serving a life sentence in a California _prison_ at the end of the book proves he isn't insane.)

B is **NOT **a psychopath. (Most psychopaths are portrayed to be charming and suave (think stereotypical cartoon villain), however the first thing Naomi Misora felt upon meeting B was that he was "suspicious" and "a freak". )

B is a highly skilled actor (as heavily implied in the novel – he had to act as L, a person he only heard about in passing, for several weeks, and as Rue Ryuzaki, private detective.)

B is a skilled manipulator (as implied in the novel, where he guides Naomi through the whole case)

That was just a skim of the obvious stuff (long, I know), which I will elaborate later on in the next chapters. In this chapter, I'll now move on to the statistics (primarily, B's age) :) All this took me a year and a half to figure out, so reading all of it would be appreciated :)

Alright, the statistics *cracks knuckles*:

L Lawliet was born in 1979, as clearly stated in How To Read 13. At eight years old, he solved the Winchester Mad Bombings case, prevented the outbreak of World War III (more on that later) met Watari and, presumably, was sent to Wammy's House, one of the orphanages Watari established using the fortune he had as an inventor (as stated in the novel L:Change The World). It would be common sense to assume L's parents were killed in the Winchester Mad Bombings, as L was sent to Wammy's House the same year. This all happened in 1986 (when L was eight years old).

L himself said in the manga, just before he and Light began the famously epic tennis match, that he (L) had lived in England for five years. He obviously couldn't have been born in England, as he was brought to Wammy's House at age eight. If he had been born in England and stayed for five years, he would have left England when he was five, which contradicts the information we are given that L was brought to Wammy's House in England at age eight. L **Lawliet's** last name sounds French (and has been confirmed by a French friend of mine). Therefore, my conclusion is: L was born and raised in France until he was eight, then was bought to Wammy's House in Winchester, where he stayed for five years. This is also supported by the fact he has ties to a **French **conman, Aiber, and is fluent in French (as evident in the movie L:Change The World).

L stayed at Wammy's House for five years then left England, presumably to pursue his career as a detective (since he had already amassed a reputation by solving the Mad Bombings), in 1992. It is known through the Death Note fandom that, starting from when L left Wammy's House, the goal of the orphanage became to find a successor for L once he left, so it would be safe to assume Alternate (A) and Backup (Beyond Birthday) arrived then too.

Now, Alternate and Backup were there from 1992 to 2002 (Beyond Birthday ran away from Wammy's House in May, 2002, as stated in the LABB Murder Cases novel). There's a ten year time period where the 'first generation' stayed at Wammy's House. If we detract one year for every generation, then the second generation would have stayed from 1994 to 2003, for nine years. The second would have been from 1995 to 2003, eight years. The third generation was there from 1995 to 2003, eight years. Near & Mello, the fourth generation, would have stayed from 1997 to 2004 (when Near left for America), seven years. This would make Mello eight years old when he arrived, and Near six (if you calculated it by their birth dates).

If L was 22 in 2002, B could not have been younger than a teenager when he ran away from Wammy's House since he was able to copy L's appearance so well. This wouldn't have been possible for someone who hadn't hit puberty. For males, puberty normally begins at around 12 years old and, on average, has completed its "dramatic" stages by about 16. It's unlikely, then, that B was below the age of 15 when the Los Angeles BB Murder Case began.

So, we've ruled out any age below 15 for B's age. If we bear in mind how B had a license to drive and become a private detective in the novel, he would have to be of legal age (therefore, above the age of 19 (19 is the official legal age in the United States of America). Therefore, B would have to be either 20 or 21 in the time the LABB Murder Cases took place. As it is unlikely he would be older than L, being a candidate for his succession (successors generally are younger than the person they're succeeding :)), we can rule out anything above 22 (L's age at the time).

Personally, I think B's age is 20 in the time of LABB Murder cases. We know B places particular emphasis on symbolism (crushing Quarter Queen's eyes to symbolize his own shinigami vision, Wara Ningyo dolls etc.) , and having 20 as an age in quite symbolic of him being second to L (or L being second to him, depending on what your side is) as 2 is the first digit of 20. 20 = 2 = 2nd.

Is this making sense so far?

B was 20 in the 2002. So if we subtract: 2002-20, the resulting number, and thus his birth year, would have to be 1982. It is impossible to calculate what day and month he was born in from what limited information we are given. Anyway, if B was born in 1982, that would make him 10 years old when he first arrived at Wammy's House in 1992, 15 years old when Mello and Near arrived in 1997 and 20 years old at the time of the LABB Murder cases in 2002.

(to all those people who are sceptical about B's appearance in Relight 2, THIS PROVES IT! There is a ten year period where B stayed at Wammy's House, during which he would OBVIOUSLY have met or been around Mello and Near. Sorry I keep coming back to this – I just want to clarify and make clear, plus I get really annoyed at all the people who claim otherwise ^_^)

After all that, I'm not quite sure where to finish XD I'll leave it here – all that's probably enough information for one chapter. If any of you have any questions, queries, theories of your own, more information or comments, feel free to review or PM me.


End file.
